Pitch Black
by Mr. X
Summary: A story based on a battle report I read about a cut off Imperial Guard company more info inside. Also more chapters to come. Plz review so I know what to change and what to do more of.
1. First Blood

Authors Note: This story was inspired by reading a battle report on a really great site I found. Its called batreps.com and I urge you to check it out if your interested in battle reports for Warhammer 40K. Anyway I don't own Warhammer 40k or any of the characters associated with it (Neither does my cat..) and I disclam any of the stuff they own. Oh yeah and neither do I challenge Batreps.com for their custom scenario around which my story is based.  
  
  
  
Darkness enveloped the landscape. Shadowy figures could be seen pushing their way   
  
through the dense closeness of the jungle. The eerie silence occasionally disturbed by   
  
distant flashes of light and the far off thundering of artillery. Much closer however the   
  
rumbling of engines could be heard quite near. Penal trooper Gredge trudged along   
  
behind his fellows. His loose fitting helmet slipping sideways off his head. His lasgun   
  
slung across his back slapping against his rucksack. He was at the back of the marching   
  
column of the Luxor IV Penal regiment. His worried gaze always slipping sidelong   
  
glances at the foreboding darkness behind him. The trooper in front of him turned his   
  
head sideways and gave a whisper. "Hey Gredge pass me a cigarette will ya." Gredge   
  
gave him a worried look and then fumbled around in his pockets for the package.   
  
"Alright but only one more Dalfa these things cost a fortune out here." Gredge replied   
  
handing him one from the packet. "I know they do that's why I get mine from you."   
  
Dalfa replied as he light his cigarette from a silver powerpack from his belt. Gredge was   
  
about to replace the pack in his pocket when he slipped in a wet patch on the path and   
  
stumbled into a puddle dropping the little red box into the muddy water. "Damnit" he   
  
cursed quietly. Gredge went down to his knees and started sloshing his hands around in   
  
the water trying to find the pack. Meanwhile the column moved further away into the   
  
growing darkness. Finally his fingers grasped the package. He pulled the soaking box   
  
from the water and prayed the cigarettes weren't ruined. It was then that he became aware   
  
of the sound. A sharp clicking sound filled the air around him. He stood up and whirled   
  
around. The last thing Gredge saw was many razor sharp claws and teeth all held together   
  
by a mass of purplish blue skin before his life was ripped from his body. His scream   
  
carried all the way to the marching column. The column stopped all at once and the   
  
soldiers whipped out their lasguns sweeping the muzzles around the area. The sergeant   
  
turned to face the troopers holding his chainsword aloft. "Keep moving you cowards or   
  
would you like to be trapped in here by the Tyranids?" His voice was cut off by a scream   
  
from some where in the center of the ranks. A trooper dropped his lasgun as a set of   
  
claws came down from the one of the low hanging branches overhead and lifted him   
  
bodily into the foliage. Another scream was cut short by a crunching sound as the   
  
trooper's body dropped back into sight dangling from the branch his feet caught in some   
  
vines. His face was horribly mutilated and his armor cracked open like an egg shell blood   
  
staining his uniform. Suddenly all around the column similar attacks came. "Fire!" The   
  
sergeant bellowed. Lasgun fire ripped through the jungle canopy burning leaves to a   
  
crisp. Then from behind another attack came. Genestealers! They came hurtling through   
  
the woods Their eyes glowing with an inner fire. Faster than the eye could follow the   
  
leapt upon the first troopers. Claws digging through their flak armor and deep into the   
  
gaurdsmen's chests. Blood splattered across the path. More Stealers swarmed from the   
  
trees above. Dropping down onto their victims. A gaurdsman went down as the alien   
  
crashed down onto his head. His finger depressed the trigger spraying las fire upwards.   
  
Another gaurdsman pushed through the ranks to the genestealers at the back. Holding a   
  
flamer he engulfed two of the stealers in an inferno of fire before they had a chance to   
  
attack. A stealer leaped from the trees right at the sergeant who stumbled back luckily   
  
taking him out of range of the stealer's full attack which instead only took his helmet.   
  
Recovering quickly he flicked his chainsword on, its blades whirring to life. With a   
  
mighty swing he sliced straight through the genestealer's neck, severing it from the body   
  
which fell limply backwards spasmodically twitching as black blood leaked out onto the   
  
pathway. The gaurdsmen had rallied by now and formed an effective fire brigade. The   
  
back rank crouched down and sent fire into the stealers behind while the second rank   
  
provided support. The center of the column once again sprayed the trees with las fire   
  
trying to drop any stealers within. The sergeant lobbed a frag grenade into the masses of   
  
stealers at the back. It's explosion ripping limbs from the creatures. Then without any   
  
warning the stealers retreated into the shadows. The silence they left after the shock   
  
attack chilled the gaurdsmen's blood. The sergeant retrieved his helmet from of the claws   
  
of the beheaded genestealer. Before turning and ordering the column to keep moving.   
  
The troops began muttering amongst themselves. As everyone tried to keep from being in   
  
the back rank. The sergeant was deep in thought. They would have to double time it if   
  
they were to reach the armor column ahead on time and alive.   
  
  
  
  



	2. Attack!

  
  
  
  
The column pushed on at a quick jog this time. The guardsmen panted and sweat as   
  
they ran more out of fear than need. Anyone who fell or tripped was almost   
  
trampled to death as the column ran on. Up ahead the sound of engines grew   
  
louder with it came the sounds of battle. The hum of lasgun fire and the boom of   
  
Leman Russ battle cannons coupled with the chatter of heavy bolters and the   
  
screams of dying men. Up ahead a break could be seen in the trees. The regiment   
  
raced flat out now, eager to join their armor cover and oblivious to the   
  
telltale signs of combat. As the first rank burst through the trees a shocking   
  
scene greeted their eyes. The armor was under attack! The jungle ended in a   
  
gentle sloping hill opening out onto a vast expanse of grassy plains. Old stone   
  
work lay strewn around the area. Stretching out across the plains was the   
  
Imperial Guard armor. Three Leman Russ battle tanks two Hellhounds and another   
  
two Chimeras were formed into a crooked line heading away from the jungle. The   
  
instant the Luxor regiment broke cover from the jungle an explosion rocked the   
  
land throwing men to their knees. The lead Hellhound tank went up in a   
  
tremendous explosion of fire and scrap metal. A half collapsed ruin came   
  
crashing down onto the wrecked tank jarred loose by the explosion. The men   
  
recovered their footing after the explosion to be led down to the main battle by   
  
the sergeant. Gaurdsmen and penal regiments fought side by side against the   
  
onslaught they now faced. Two armored fist squads along with another three   
  
regular regiments of gaurdsmen fought beside three penal regiments. Each squad   
  
had at least one heavy weapon. In addition to this another set of heavy weapon   
  
teams was hastily unloading their gear from one of the chimera's and setting up   
  
in the ruins a bit ahead. The entire right side of the column was hard pressed   
  
by Tryanids. Lasfire ripped from the line of guardsmen formed behind the sparse   
  
cover the plains offered. They traded shots with the broods of termagants about   
  
five hundred feet away. The alien creatures wielded a sort of bone weapon that   
  
fired high pressure acid bolts. When one hit a man, that part of his body was   
  
almost always burned off. They slowly advanced upon the guardsmen firing shots   
  
running forward then dropping for cover. Two zoanthropes were also visible along   
  
with a carnifex. The vehicles searchlights lit up the area causing quite a few   
  
of the Tryanid forces to shrink partially away from the light. The remaining   
  
Hellhound rolled out of the line of vehicles and fired its inferno cannon at the   
  
approaching hoard. Termagants were incinerated as a fiery cone spat forth from   
  
the Hellhound's barrel igniting termagants and grass alike. The carnifex came   
  
screaming across the field its four pincers snapping wildly. The Leman Russ   
  
battle cannons gave an answering call as their turrets rotated to face the   
  
threat and fired shells the size of a man. The carnifex dodged to the side and   
  
kept running as the shells whizzed past harmlessly to impact with a large   
  
cluster of rock. The carnifex smashed headfirst into the side of one of the   
  
battle tanks rocking it dangerously. The heavy weapon teams had finished setting   
  
up and now they let fly with everything they had aimed at the carnifex. Rockets,   
  
Plasma, and thousands of bolter shells shattered against the carnifex's side.   
  
The carnifex pulled away from the tank and gave a cry of rage and pain. Turning   
  
to the guardsmen to his left he let off a roiling blast of psychic energy. The   
  
coalescing ball of blue energy impacted with the ground its explosion covering a   
  
squad of troopers. The soldiers were tossed high in the air and dropped like   
  
stones into the ranks of other regiments. Their skin melting into a reddish pink   
  
goo. Screaming and clawing at themselves they ran straight into the termagants   
  
who promptly shot them. Another shot from one of the battle tanks slammed almost   
  
point blank into the carnifex's chest. The creature was thrust backwards and up   
  
almost five feet off the ground. It's body slammed into a cluster of termagants   
  
crushing them. A zoanthrope floated forward its single hideous appendage   
  
hovering a foot from the ground. Suddenly an invisible blast of psychic power   
  
blasted the heavy weapon teams stationed in the ruins. Men and equipment were   
  
pitched back off the ledges to fall screaming to the ground below. The carnifex   
  
stood up again a ragged hole in its chest. It started to give another scream   
  
when two more battle tank shells hit it hard, one clipping its claw the other   
  
hitting the alien full in the face. The carnifex fell to its knees with a crash   
  
and then let out a final scream before lasfire cauterized its remaining facial   
  
features. The Hellhound rolled even further out blasting its inferno cannon   
  
indiscriminately. The second zoanthrope shot a ray of energy at the Hellhound.   
  
The beam went straight through the center of the tank melting the occupants and   
  
burning a hole in the fuel tanks superheating the fuel which, a fraction of a   
  
second later detonated. Luckily the tank was nowhere near any Imperial Guard   
  
troops and only the termagants were hit by the explosion. A chimera moved   
  
further out of the column firing its multilaser at the zoanthrope. The beast was   
  
hit twice distorting its psychic field long enough for the remaining heavy   
  
weapon teams to finish it off. When it died a shock wave of its power was   
  
released. The wave hit some guardsmen. They dropped their weapons and clutched   
  
at their faces before their brains exploded inside their skulls killing them   
  
instantly. Without warning the termagants and the remaining zoanthrope fled the   
  
battle melting into the shadows. A cheer went up from the guardsmen though their   
  
victory was to be short lived.   



	3. The Home Front

  
  
  
  
An explosion rocked the bunker throwing what little furniture was inside to the ground. In fact everything was shaken to the floor except the three occupants. Clad in their ebony power armor three space marines of the Dark Templars chapter stood their ground at the vision slit bolters blasting away, the empty shell casings falling to the floor still smoking. Another hit against the bunker caused some steel support girders to crash to the floor. Brother Caddius turned and looked at the strained framework of the shelter. "We should leave this place before it collapses around us. Brother Darrel turned to look at his fellow marine and then at the scene outside. Tyranids had attacked the base and were overrunning its defenses. Shifting his gaze back to his battle brother he gave a nod of his head and pulled away from the slit. Brother Kain ignored the two completely continuing to fire despite their dwindling stock of ammunition. "Brother we must leave or the bunker will collapse upon us." Caddius said. Kain didn't turn "Brother please what use will you be to the Emperor if you are dead? Better to leave the bunker and relocate so that we may do the most good." Kain kept firing. Caddius shrugged his shoulders at Darrel and started toward the exit when a crunching sound was heard. He turned in time to see Brother Kain slump to the floor his visor cracked open and a long thin bone rod sticking out.   
  
Caddius ran for the exit Darrel close behind. Kicking open the metal blast door they ran out into a raging hell. Though it was night Brother Caddius's night vision goggles coupled with his enhanced senses made it seem as if it were day. A large metal structure loomed up in front of the pair of marines. To their right several bunkers like their were stationed at intervals along the sand bag wall. A trench system ran in a crisscrossing network across the base. Towers had been erected near the wall though most were in ruins and an ammo dump was present behind the main base building. Tyraninds and marines were all over the base battling. As they left the bunker blasts of acid took chunks out of the duracrete wall in front of them. Caddius rolled behind a low sandbag wall followed by Darrel who took a running dive sliding to the wall corner and coming up in a crouch. Caddius peered over the wall edge and saw a set of five termagants slinking around the main courtyard. Caddius opened fire on the group bolter spitting death. Two termagants were a fleshly pile before they knew what was happening. Darrel killed another as it tried to return fire. The last two tried to find cover though only one managed to do so alive. Caddius motioned for Darrel to follow him. Running in a crouch he went for the base door just as they reached it the bunker they had just been in collapsed as it was hit by another blast from a spore mine. Tyranid gargoyles came swooping down upon some marines in the base tower. Their claws didn't do much damage but one marine lost his balance and was pushed over the tower parapet to fall with a bone crunching force into the ground staining the dirt red.   
  
Darrel slammed open the base door running into the anteroom. Signs of a battle were all over. Shredded furniture and torn up desks and chairs. As well as some machinery guts spilled out onto the floor occasionally giving off sparks. Alien bodies littered the area, hormagaunts in grotesque death poses lay in pools of their own black blood. Caddius and Darrel turned on the lights on their bolters sweeping them over the area. A doorway in the right wall led into another room though only the hinges from the actual door remained. Darrel entered first sweeping the area with his light. Boxes of equipment were stacked around the room though most had been toppled and opened their contents scattered across the room. The mystery of where the door went was solved as the light passed over it at the far end of the room. More hormagaunts lay strewn around the area along with one or two marine bodies. A set of metal stairs leading up to a door stood in one corner of the room. Then halfway up the stairs Caddius spotted it. A hormagaunt sat hunched over feasting on one of its own. Blood dripped down the steps and pooled at the stair bottom. As they entered the hormagaunt turned to face them blood caked around its mouth. It leapt off the stairs bones crunching under its feet as it landed on another creature's carcass. Sprinting across the floor at the two marines in the doorway it gave a howl. Caddius calmly raised his bolter and pumped two rounds through the creature's head throwing it onto its back, blood leaking from the holes in its head.   
  
Caddius stepped in to the room Darrel covered doorway they had just come through. Suddenly the door at the top of the stairs shook as a dent appeared in the center. Another dent and then another appeared. Caddius ran halfway up the stairs bolter raised and pointed at the door while Darrel stood in the center of the room covering Caddius. A crack appeared in the door, which then widened into a hole. A hormagaunt head poked its way through the hole. Darrel sent a bolter shell straight into its face throwing it out of sight on the other side of the door. Another couple of hits and the door finally gave way falling outwards onto the stairs and sliding off the side to crash to the floor below. Two hormagaunts stood framed in the doorway. Attracted by the noise of the bolters they came dashing down the stairs. More gaunts piled in behind them. Caddius took down one of the lead gaunts pitching him off the stairway. A second creature leapt five stairs and landed right on top of Caddius hissing. Caddius stumbled backwards falling and sliding down the stairs the gaunt still latched onto him. It was about to sink its claws through his visor when it's head exploded in a blast of flesh and blood. Darrel came running leaping over Caddius's prone form He landed with a crunch on a gaunt's head just as it was about to leap on Caddius. Its skull was crushed under the weight of the marine's armored boot. Bringing up his bolter he fired a hail of shells at the gaunts swarming down the stairs towards them carving a swathe between them. Caddius jumped up and unclipped a frag grenade from his belt. Priming the grenade he lobbed it over Darrel and into the doorway. Two seconds later the resulting explosion threw gaunts from the stairway lethal shrapnel slicing the creatures to bits. Darrel took this opportunity to pound his way up the stairs smashing guants aside with his fists. Caddius followed up behind him bolter sending controlled bursts into the remaining gaunts. They reached the top of the stairs and surged into the room. Darrel turned on his heel and stood in the doorway firing at the gaunts that were in still in the room below.  
  
Caddius made his way in. A large glass window was to his right as he entered. The glass had been shattered inward and glass shards littered the floor. A panel of machinery sat at the base of the glass window though like the others was shorted out wires and paneling everywhere. Several technicians lay stretched over the circuit boards or slumped back in their chairs blood dripping off them. A ladder stood in one corner going up to the roof. A small metal table stood in the center of the room its chairs tipped over and badly scarred with scratches and dents. To the left a small maintenance closet it's door shut was imbedded in the wall. Caddius went over and opened the closet. Something heavy toppled out onto the floor. It was the body of a technician. Caddius turned him over onto his back. The man's face was eaten away by acid and all that was left was an indistinguishable bloody wreck. Caddius left the body where it lay and walked over to the shattered window. Darrel had finished off the remaining gaunts and joined him at the window. They looked out at the carnage below. The trenches were being overrun by swarms of genestealers. Bodies lay everywhere both alien and marine alike. Caddius turned and made for the ladder to the roof. Darrel was about to follow when a clawed appendage came over the window ledge. Then another joined it. At that moment a genestealer hoisted it self through the window and landed on the control panel. Darrel sent a shot screaming through its chest before it could leap on him. The stealer went flying back out the window. Darrel was about to leave once again when another two genestealers leapt through the window then another three. Soon the ledge was teeming with the things. Darrel reacted swiftly grabbing an empty chair he hoisted it at two stealers about to spring. It crashed into them throwing them into the others knocking a group of them out the window.   
  
Caddius rushed back to the window. Firing a burst of bolter fire he then leaped onto the control panel and bulled a group of surprised genestelers back out the window. They went down onto another group of stealers trying to scale the walls themselves. They moved swiftly flesh hooks digging into the duracrete, climbing faster than anything human could hope to. Darrel sprayed the group of stealers nearest him. Two succeeded in leaping past his bolter shots and tackling him to the ground. Caddius was trying to wrest another out of the window. Smashing it with a piece of metal he had ripped from the panel he was able to send it flying outwards straight into one of its brothers who had just climbed up. Darrel sent the two who had tackled him flying off to the side. They skittered away claws scrabbling for purchase on the smooth metal. Darrel then leapt onto the panel with Caddius. More stealers swarmed onto Darrel until he was covered with the creatures. Caddius tried to help by knocking them off him when the two beasts he had sent flying into the room came springing straight at him. Caddius ducked and the stealers went over his head but into the mass clinging to Darrel. He stumbled back from the combined weight of the beasts. His boots caught the edge of the window ledge. He teetered there for a moment before falling backwards out the window genestealers flying off him.  
  
Caddius gave a silent thanks to Darrel for buying him time to escape. Running for the ladder he clambered nearly missing the claws of the genestealer at the bottom. Going up to the top he flung the hatch open. Looking back down he saw a single genestealer climbing after him claws biting through the metal. He waited till it was almost under him before giving a tremendous kick. His boot connected with the beast's face cracking its skull. It's claws immediately let go of the ladder as its lifeless corpse fell to the ground. Caddius was about to hoist his full body out of the hole when a burst of acid splattered near him. Looking up he saw gargoyles winging through the sky towards him fleshborers at the ready. Leaning against the open cover all of his body from the waist up was out of the hole. Rasing his bolter he sent a set of accurate shots into the gargoyles dropping three. After that last shot his magzine was empty. He ducked back down into the hole pulling the hatch partially closed. Two more acid bolts smashed into the rusted cover melting holes in the metal. Caddius finally got a fresh magazine into the bolter when the hatch literally disintegrated under a spalsh of acid. Caddius hoisted himself out of the hole and rolled behind a venting duct just as acid bolts hit the area where he had just been. Standing up he took another shot and then looked to the tower where some of his brother marines were defending themselves against the onslaught of genestealers. Making a run for the tower acid bolts impacted only a step behind his every stride. He reach the ladder connecting the tower to the roof and went banging up it. He reached the tower just as the squad finished off the remaining stealers. Going up to the commander he got his attention. "Sir how long before we are overrun?" The commander gave him a penetrating gaze. "Well that all depends on how many bullets you have doesn't it?" Caddius turned away and wondered just exactly when the armor column would arrive and how many bullets they would bring.   



End file.
